1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to vehicle license plate holders and, more particularly, to license plate holders which are tamper-resistant and weather-proof.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
With increased use of "vanity" vehicle license plates (i.e., vehicle license plates for which an owner's pays an extra fee to obtain plates bearing pre-specified alphanumeric characters), there has become an increased need for license plate holders to protect such plates against the elements and against vandalism. Examples of prior art weather-proof license plate holders may be found in the following U.S. Pat. Nos.: 1,879,906 (Linstrom); 1,927,564 (Goldberg); and 2,865,123 (Glowzinski). Prior art license plate holders having one or more significant disadvantages. Most are expensive to fabricate, requiring many parts, some of which must be mutually movable. Others require holes to be drilled through the transparent cover of glass or other material, leaving the cover subject to breakage, adding to the expensive fabrication, and comprising the weather seal for the enclosure. Finally, none of the prior art license plate holders known to Applicant are tamper-resistant in that an unauthorized individual can open the enclosure as easily as an authorized individual and have access to the license plate. In most cases, such access is obtained with nothing more than a conventional screwdriver.
It is desirable that the owner of a vehicle, or other authorized person, have simple access to the license plate in order to attach annual stickers, or to replace the plate itself. However, access for unauthorized individuals should be as difficult as possible. Further, the assembled structure should be weather-proof, inexpensive to fabricate, and should be capable of being opened and closed by authorized persons without damaging the structure or the license plate.